RE: @Herpetologyguy's Views on SeaWorld
True, I would much rather see them in the wild too!
As for the shows, I actually really like what they do, but again I think it's because I understand what is going on a little better than other audience members. Simply training animals to perform stunts and tricks is not my idea of what zookeeping is about, but these shows are an important opportunity to assess health, set critical training programs in place, and serve as a form of enrichment. After years of being in an animal institution, I would actually say that these shows probably improve their quality of life, and they overall suffer less stress as a result (like I mention in the case of medical procedures). You just have to remember that the shows are more than human entertainment, whether it's obvious or not!
Yes, I totally I agree and it´s a very controversial topic. Maybe the whales are more safe for humans in the seaworld than in the ocean where they are getting killed every day... As I already said, if the conditions are good, it´s a great thing for animal protection and I never visited the sea world, so I can´t say something about the conditions for the animals there.
I wouldn't say the conditions are bad there, I think it is just too difficult to create an artificial environment for an organism as large and complex as a whale, ya know? A species that needs so much space, and with such an intelligent and communal nature, I just don't know how you recreate that in captivity. I'm all for protecting animals using captive programs, but I think we have a ways to go before we can reliably protect whales that way. All species are unique; what works for one animal doesn't always work for another, so perhaps we need to consider that captive programs are not the way to protect whales.